


evermore | s. stilinski

by callitcasualsabotage



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Fanfiction, Season 3, Series, Werewolf!reader, nothing too graphic or violent just usual teen wolf stuff, werewolf!female character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28836651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callitcasualsabotage/pseuds/callitcasualsabotage
Summary: “Drowning in pools of amber was starting to become the usual for Sadie, and she didn’t like it one bit. She had never been in love and she didn’t want to fall in love now of all times, when she was in the biggest mess of her life and could potentially get herself - or worse, anyone else - killed at any moment. She couldn’t fall in love now that she was the apex predator and she had a freaking target on her back. She couldn’t put that burden on anyone else and she wouldn’t.”a girl in the woods, two teenage boys in shining armor and some very unexpected supernatural news.also on tumblr @sandylou & wattpad @lupinshoneydukes
Relationships: Stiles Stilinski/Original Character(s), Stiles Stilinski/Original Female Character(s), Stiles Stilinski/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	1. i. the girl in the woods

Sadie wasn’t sure of how she had gotten herself into such a mess. She was sure she had done something really terrible in her past life, because, fuck, she wasn’t exactly an angel, but there was no way she deserved anything that had happened to her. She had never prided herself on being an amazing person, but she wasn’t evil, and she was sure that no god up above would punish her again after everything she had gone through already in her short life. 

This is all my fault - she thought. This was all because she couldn’t wait a single year to be out of foster care for good. Just a single year, just until she turned eighteen. Of course, her stubborn self was so fixated on leaving earlier, and less than a day after, she had already managed to get herself into trouble. 

Typical Sadie. 

It’s not like she regretted it, - her pride was too big to admit she had made a mistake and her group home was such a shitshow she would rather live under a bridge - but she was starting to think that maybe trying to start a life of her own at only seventeen hadn’t been such a great idea after all.

She was lost. She didn’t remember for how long she had been walking, but by how exhausted she felt, she could have sworn it had been days. She guessed - now more realistically - that it had been hours, maybe, she wasn’t sure. It was still nighttime. 

Unfortunately for her, she had been at the wrong place at the wrong time and something had attacked her, leaving a nasty wound on her forearm that she was sure would get infected. 

She couldn’t remember anything since a little after the attack, when she had been sitting at a desolate bus stop in the middle of nowhere, waiting for the next ride to Los Angeles. All she knew is that she was sitting there, and then suddenly she wasn’t - she couldn’t remember how, or anything that had happened in between. 

Now she was lost in the woods, and no one was going to look for her. She had no family and no friends, she didn’t even own a phone, and she was sure she was going to die alone in the woods if no one found her soon. She was scared, confused, tired, cold and extremely thirsty, but she kept on walking; stumbling over branches and protruding roots, the faint light of the moon struggling to break through the thick leaves of the trees not being of much help.

Suddenly, she saw it. Light. A car.

With the adrenaline rush that the spark of hope had given her, she ran like a mad woman towards it, almost tripping over her own feet once or twice. Her lungs were burning and she was too out of breath to scream for help, stumbling onto the middle of the road instead. 

The incoming car stopped abruptly, merely inches away from running her over, tires screeching over the tar roadway. Sadie sighed in relief, squinting her eyes at the bright white light of the headlights as she tried to make out the two people hurrying out of the car and jogging towards her.

“Hey, are you okay?” She heard a panicked voice.

Two young men came closer to her, blocking the blinding light, and she could finally see them. They both looked to be around seventeen, both of a similar stature, one lankier than the other; they both had dark hair and the same worried expression was plastered on both their faces. They were eyeing her with inspectful eyes, staring at her up and down, looking for injuries. 

Truth is, they wouldn’t have been able to tell if she was injured or not because she was covered in mud, head to toe. Her clothes were disheveled, her hair a mess, and there was dirt on her hands and her face; a few leaves were sticking out here and there, stuck to her clothes and tangled in her hair. 

“I- I got lost.” She stuttered. She was freezing cold and confused. So confused.

“Are you hurt? Do you need help?”

She looked down at her forearm at his question, realizing now that the poorly wrapped bite wound that was supposed to be there wasn’t there anymore. But, how could it be gone? Something had bitten her, for sure.

“I- I’m,” She stuttered again in confusion, her eyes still fixed on her arm. 

“It’s okay, we’re gonna help you, alright? I’m Scott,” The brunette with the broader shoulders chimed in, taking off his jacket and wrapping it around her shaking frame. “This is Stiles.” He pointed to the other boy, a sympathetic smile on his face.

“I don’t- I don’t know what happened.” Her voice was strained and weak.

“It’s fine, you’ll be okay,” Scott wrapped his arm around her waist, her arm coming over his shoulder for support, and he helped her into the car while Stiles, the other boy, opened the door so she could lay down in the backseat. “Do you want us to call someone?”

She couldn’t give an answer because as soon as her head touched the car seat, she was out, her eyes closing slowly as she gave into the exhaustion.

• • •

Faint hushed voices coming from nearby stirred her from her sleep. 

“I’m telling you, she’s a werewolf. But I don’t think she even knows, she was so confused and scared.”

“And isn’t it possible that she got bitten last night?” 

The sunlight coming in from the window made her close her eyes back again, the brightness blinding her momentarily. After a moment, she opened them once more, blinking slowly and taking in her surroundings. 

She was in a room painted pale green with a small window above the bed she was laying on; a messy desk full of school books was pushed against the wall and various items of clothing and shoes were scattered all over the floor. It was so clearly a teenager’s bedroom.

“The bite would still be there. Remember mine was still there the whole day after? Besides, I can tell she’s one because she smells like it, if she had been turned last night I wouldn’t be able to tell by smell.”

“So you think she lost control and got lost in the woods? The full moon was two days ago.”

She couldn’t quite make out what the voices were saying, but she guessed that they probably belonged to Scott and Stiles, the boys that had found her last night. 

She sat up on the bed, brazing herself for the pounding headache and dizziness she knew was coming, only to find that it never came. Surprisingly, she felt perfectly fine - better than ever, actually. Getting up quickly, she stumbled to the bathroom, tripping over a shoe. Catching her reflection on the mirror she almost let out a yelp at what she saw. 

She didn’t look fine - funnily enough, she looked worse than ever, actually. Her hair was full of dried mud, her face was ashen with dirt, as were her clothes, and her arm was still covered by the bloody bandage that was also covered in some more dirt. She looked like she had been rolling around in mud puddles like a happy puppy after it rained.

“Hey, you’re up,” A voice suddenly made her jump, tearing her eyes away from the mirror. It was Scott. “How are you feeling? I realized we never got your name yesterday.”

“Oh, sorry. It’s Sadie,” She said with a shy smile, bringing her hand up to her forehead. She remembered getting into a car last night and nothing after that. She must have been so exhausted. “I feel okay, surprisingly. Thank you, by the way, for everything. You saved my life last night.” 

He narrowed his eyes and shook his head lightly, giving her a reassuring smile. “It was nothing, Sadie, don’t worry about it. You can take a shower if you want, I’ll leave you some clothes out here.” He said, stepping out of the bathroom and back into his room. “You can come down after for some breakfast, I’m sure you’re hungry.”

• • •

The girl staring back at her in the mirror looked a lot more like Sadie than the one she had seen before. Her hair was back to her usual chocolate color and she could now see the faint blush of her cheeks and the few freckles sprinkled across her nose. 

She had lost her small luggage with the few things she owned and a good chunk of money, but thankfully the clothes Scott had left for her fit her well. In a way, losing everything she had once owned felt almost liberating - like a clean slate - , but obviously, she had nothing left and she didn’t know how she was going to pay for anything now. 

The uncertainty of it all terrified her, but she had truly believed she was going to die when she had been attacked, so making it out alive was enough for her. She had once thought she wouldn’t care when her time came, not having much left in life she cared for, but after being so close to death she thought a little different now. 

All she had left from her old life was her mother’s wedding band, which was, surprisingly, still sitting proudly on her ring finger. She looked down at her hand and let out a heavy sigh, the silver band twinkling in the sunlight.

Stepping out of Scott’s bedroom and into a hallway, she took careful steps, trying to not make much noise as she walked down the wooden stairs. As she got closer, she heard yet again the faint whispered back and forth she had heard before, when she was still sleeping. Feeling like she was about to interrupt something she shouldn’t, hesitantly she came to a halt at the kitchen doorway, the two boys sitting at the table going silent as they stared at her, abruptly stopping their hushed out arguing.

In the bright daylight and with all the mud gone, they could now make out what she actually looked like. Her delicate features were completely distinguishable now: the high cheekbones, button nose and plump lips. Her eyes were bright blue, stark against her pale skin, the slightly dark rims around her eyes only making them pop even more. She looked very different to the terrified and fragile girl they had stumbled upon last night. 

“Hey,” Scott chimed in, a smile appearing on his face quickly. “The clothes fit you, great. Breakfast?”

“Uh, sure, thank you.” She said, a little uneasy as she sat down at the kitchen table.

She wasn’t used to kindness from strangers, and as much as it made her slightly uncomfortable, not really knowing how to react to it, it felt good. Having someone that didn’t know her at all care for her in the smallest way made her feel relevant and not so invisible.

Stiles, who was sitting next to her, kept on stealing narrow-eyed glances her way in between scribbling away on a piece of paper. Sadie kind of wanted to ask him if there was still mud on her face for him to keep staring at her the way he was, but she refrained from doing so, not wanting to come across as rude. The last thing she wanted was for them to think she was an ungrateful brat they should have left standing in the middle of the road to freeze to death. Instead, she just kept chewing on the piece of toast Scott had given to her while trying to put her mind in place and figure out what exactly had happened to her the night before.

Staring absentmindedly at one of the school books sitting on the table, she had to do a double take when her eyes scanned over the little red sticker stuck on the cover. Beacon Hills High School.

“Beacon Hills?” She said without even realizing the words were coming out of her mouth, the evident surprise clear on both her tone and her face.

“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Sadie heard Stiles talk for the first time in that whole morning.

“This is not Riverside?”

“Riverside? No, wh-” The tone of his voice was laced with pure confusion. 

“Where did you find me last night?” She cut in, not even letting him finish.

“Just barely on the outskirts of Beacon Hills,” There was no way this was possible.

“What day is it?” She spoke with urgency.

“Thursday. Sadie,” Scott jumped in, walking to sit beside her at the kitchen table, both boys staring at her with puzzled expressions.

She went silent, staring at a blank spot.

How had it been two days since she had left? Was she losing her mind?

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, Scott getting up quickly to answer it, looking back at her before walking towards the living room.

“You wanna tell us what you remember?” Asked Stiles in a softer voice, moving his chair a little closer to her and trying to catch her eyes which were still fixed on the kitchen table.

Her head was still foggy, but she was slowly starting to remember little pieces here and there - they were very blurry and she couldn’t quite put them in order, not sure of what had happened before or after.

“Sadie, this is Deaton,” Scott came back into the kitchen, this time accompanied by another man. “He’s here to help, don’t worry.” He said when he saw the unsure look in her eyes.

She nodded to signal she was okay with him being there, and looked back at Stiles, who gave her a reassuring smile, encouraging her to go ahead with her story.

“Yesterday,” she stopped, “Well, I guess, two days ago,” she continued, realizing she had been in the woods for way longer than she had previously thought. 

“I had just left foster care. I was going to take a bus to L.A., but the nearest station was two miles away. And of course, me being me, I thought it was a good idea to walk all the way there at night. It was dark and in the middle of nowhere, I shouldn’t have been out there on my own. Something-” she stopped, placing a hand on her forearm where the fresh wound had been only a couple days ago, now completely gone.

“Something bit you?” Stiles jumped in, gazing down at her arm and back to her eyes. He was looking at her with softer eyes than he had been before, the seeming slight mistrust he was sporting merely minutes ago now gone after hearing what she had been through. It was comforting to know he didn’t see her as a threat anymore.

“Yes.” She affirmed, perplexed at how he could have known what had happened to her if the wound was no longer there. 

“It was so quick, I’m not sure what it was. I just know that a while after that, I started feeling really weird. I just-” She tried to find the words to describe what had occurred to her, but her mind was too foggy and the throbbing headache pounding at the front of her head that had suddenly emerged out of nowhere as she tried to scan her memory wasn’t of much help either. 

“I knew that something was wrong. It was like, something inside of me was dying to come out. Like, some beast scratching about, and the more I tried to hold it back, the angrier it got. So I ran, and I don’t remember anything else.”

She looked up to find the men in the room looking at each other with expressions she couldn’t quite place. 

“What is it?” She asked when they didn’t say anything. “Scott, what’s wrong?”

“Sadie,” he sighed, kneeling down in front of her. “There’s something you need to know.”


	2. ii. in threes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> crows, a tattoo & a new threat

“I can’t believe you’re making me go to school,” Sadie complained for the eleventh time that day as she walked into the unfamiliar building, flanked by both Scott and Stiles. 

She had protested about it when the boys had dragged her out of bed that same morning, made a fuss about it as she drank her orange juice a little after, and whined the whole car ride from Scott’s house - now also her temporary residency- all the way to school while Stiles tried to talk her into it and reassured her everything would be fine.

“Especially after telling me I’m a werewolf.” 

Stiles shushed her with his eyes wide like saucers, a hand over her mouth and an overly dramatic expression of sheer terror plastered on his face. “Sadie, what have we talked about?”

“Sorry,” she threw her arms up in defense. “I’m still processing.”

It had been over a week since Scott had sat her down at the kitchen table and carefully explained to her what had actually happened when she had been attacked and what that bite was going to entail. She had been confused, to say the least, at what was going on and it had taken her a few hours of contemplation on her own before she was brave enough to go back downstairs and face the reality. 

Turns out, - and this was just Deaton’s best guess - the full moon had affected her very strongly and very quickly after she was bitten, and she had wandered through the woods like a lost soul for two whole days, even in broad daylight, until she was able to break out of the haze, ending up in Beacon Hills to be found by Scott and Stiles. 

Finding out Scott was also a werewolf was possibly the best news she had ever received - though she guessed it was easy to find anything to be a silver lining after discovering her new condition. 

He had assured her that she wasn’t going to go through this new chapter of her life on her own and that they would be there for her every step of the way - that she was part of their small and abnormal pack now and they were going to take care of each other. She cried for an hour straight, not really sure if out of relief because of his words or terror for what had happened to her. 

Scott had been nothing but supporting since the moment they had found her in the middle of the road, and she thanked the stars every night since then that it had been him who had stumbled upon her that night and not some other person. 

For the very first time in a long time Sadie felt like her luck might have been changing - which could perfectly be the understatement of the century since she had just turned into a furry beast with claws and fangs and glowing eyes.

Everyone had been so helpful and welcoming to her and she didn’t know how to feel about it. She was extremely grateful, of course, but she wasn’t used to it, and she was unsure about what the appropriate reaction to it should be.

Scott had talked to his mother, who had kindly agreed to let her stay at their house for as long as she needed; Stiles had given her his old phone, so she could get in contact with them at any moment in case anything happened, and had managed to sign her up at school extremely last minute, which she appreciated, as much as she had complained about it. 

Deaton, who she had found out was Scott’s boss, had helped her make sense of her new condition and had offered his help for anything she needed, whenever she needed; Lydia, who Stiles had introduced to her as another supernatural creature which they were still trying to figure out, had been so excited to take her out to buy some clothes, which she had also paid for. 

Everyone had been so nice to her, and Sadie wasn’t used to people caring so much - not since her father’s death, at least.

“Besides, how did you even get me signed for this? Isn’t there like a ton of paperwork you have to fill out-”

“You don’t wanna know.” Stiles shook his head, pursing his lips and staring at her absentmindedly like he was recalling something. “Don’t worry your little head about it. Now,” He clapped loudly, slamming his locker door and making both Scott and Sadie jump. “Let’s just focus on going to class, do normal teenager things, don’t think about any of the stuff that starts with a ‘W’ or an ‘A’” He said, peering at Scott, who only stood there awkwardly.

“Anyway,” Stiles went on, dragging them both to their first lecture of the day - english. 

The three of them entered the classroom, the boys sitting down next to each other. Sadie looked around as more students settled in their seats, panic slowly coursing through her as some eyes started falling on her. 

They’re not looking at you, Sadie, you’re fine. 

But they were - they obviously were. She began to feel nervous as the reality settled in. She was actually in school.

Sadie had never liked school - or the teachers, or the classmates, or anything that had to do with it, really. It had always felt more like a prison to her, instead of the safe haven that all the social workers had tried to convince her it was. School was supposed to be very important for foster kids, something that could give them stability and so very needed friendships and social connections, but it had never felt right to her. 

Socializing or making friends wasn’t her forte, and neither was studying, so she always felt out of place and on edge. Leaving foster care had meant she didn’t have to go to school anymore, - that being one of the reasons she had left early - but there she was, once again.

“Sadie,” Stiles called out, grabbing her hand from where he was sitting. With a comforting squeeze and a reassuring smile, he guided her to the empty seat to his left.

Sadie smiled back at him, nodding her head and sitting down as she mouthed a ‘thank you’ that she had meant to actually say out loud, but had instead got stuck in her throat. 

She settled down and opened her books, watching the painfully awkward exchange Scott was having with his ex-girlfriend, Allison, and she couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle from the second hand embarrassment, already feeling so much better now that she knew she wasn’t the only one going through it at the moment. 

Scott glanced her way from his seat with a dumbfounded expression. Stiles gave him a sarcastic thumbs up accompanied with a silly grin, and she chuckled again, this time a little louder.

Scott had told her about Allison and their short lived love story, and it genuinely saddened her that so many things had come between them to the point where it was best if they weren’t together anymore. They were just teenagers. She couldn’t even imagine what it was like to be basically forced to stay away from your first love when there’s clearly something still between them.

Suddenly, all phones in the classroom started buzzing and ringing, including Sadie’s. She reached into her back pocket for it, surprised since the only people that would message her were all sitting down right next to her. She unlocked the device to find it was a message by an unknown number.

“The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway, leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky, seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.” A young woman that appeared to be in her late twenties walked into the class, all eyes fixed on her with bewildered expressions as she quoted the message that had been sent to all of them.

“This is the last line to the first book we are going to read.” She spoke. “It is also the last text you will receive in this class.” She continued with a smug expression. “Phones off, everyone.”

That was one way of making a first impression to your new students.

Sadie wasn’t sure if she liked her for her unusual and original introduction to the class, or if it felt a little too pretentious and stalkerish given she had managed to get a hold of everyone’s phone numbers. It was kind of strange, in her opinion. 

•••

Thankfully, Sadie was good at English. She liked that a lot of it was subjective and left to the reader’s interpretation, opposed to the strict logic of mathematics or the confusing physics. She enjoyed English, and it made sense to her.

Ms. Blake had assigned them some exercises to complete in class, and Sadie had managed to stay focused on them until a voice disturbed her peace.

“Mr. McCall,” Ms. Blake called out.

Scott looked up at her with a confused expression as she gestured for him to get up with an overly kind smile. He picked up his things and followed her out of the classroom.

“Where’s he going?” Sadie whispered, leaning into Stiles’ side.

“I don’t know, can you hear anything?” He said, leaning in too and pointing at his ear so she would understand what type of hearing he was referring to.

Sadie didn’t quite yet know how to put her newfound supernatural abilities to use, but she had gotten the hang of the enhanced hearing fairly quickly. 

Trying to focus under the expectant stare of Stiles, she managed to catch what they were saying, though it still sounded a little muffled and distant, not being able to completely isolate their voices from everyone else’s in the school. She still had to practice.

“His mom called, she needs him for something. Do you think it’s something-” she paused, implying she was referring to the supernatural. 

“Could be,” he answered. “Let’s not worry yet, okay?” he said when he saw her concerned expression.

Sadie had only known Scott and Stiles for a few days, but she already felt very protective over them. They had been the ones to save her that night and she felt like she was in debt to them in some way, even if they had insisted multiple times - every single time she had thanked them, actually, and it had been many times already - that she didn’t owe them anything and she was a part of their bizarre little family now.

Getting close to people had always been very difficult for her. When she left foster care she wasn’t emotionally prepared to be thrown into a situation like this - creating new bonds and friendships she wasn’t used to and having to trust unconditionally. It had never been her intention to get close to anybody new, afraid of what could happen if she did, and yet there she was. Caring about people.

It’s not that she was cold or a hard cookie to crack that simply didn’t care for meaningful relationships with other people. She was the complete opposite, actually: way too sensitive sometimes, extremely caring and warm; compassionate, kind and overall a sweetheart with a heart of gold that had been broken way too many times for her young age. It was just hard for her to show all of these things sometimes. She couldn’t afford losing anyone else, so she mostly kept to herself.

Stiles had told her to not worry - at least not yet - so she tried to distract herself and focus solely on the exercises Ms. Blake had assigned them. She found it extremely hard though with Stiles’ loud whispering to Lydia, who was sitting right in front of her.

“Has it ever bitten you before?”

Lydia shook her head to his question, visibly annoyed at him. Sadie could already see the wheels turning in Stiles’ head, putting two and two together like she had seen him do multiple times already in the few days they had known each other. He was a clever guy that saw things clearly where others didn’t. She really admired him for that. 

“Okay, what if it’s, like, the same thing as the deer? You know, like, how animals start acting weird right before an earthquake or something?”

She was about to ask what he meant with the deer, but refrained from doing so when she saw the look Ms. Blake was giving them for speaking. She didn’t want to be told off on her first day of school.

“Meaning what? There’s gonna be an earthquake?” Lydia was clearly done with him and all she wanted was to get back to her exercises.

“Or something, I just-” he insisted. “Maybe it means something’s coming. Something bad.” 

Sadie didn’t like the sound of that at all. 

“It was a deer and a dog. What’s that thing you say about threes? Once, twice,” Something slamming hard against the glass window behind Lydia interrupted her, leaving a gruesome patch of blood and black feathers behind.

“Oh, god,” Sadie jumped back from the window in shock, pushing herself back on her chair towards Stiles.

Everyone in the classroom stood still in confusion at what had happened, staring at the window the poor bird had crashed against. All of a sudden, the sound of birds shrieking could be heard clearly. All eyes fixed on the windows, they saw what almost seemed like a hundred crows approaching the school, as if flying away from something.

“Stiles,” she stuttered, their eyes quickly meeting in panic before darting back towards the birds.

“Get down!”

One after the other, the crows flew right into the windows of the classroom, and the glass gave in, shattering as more and more of the birds crashed against it. Pure instinct coming over her, Sadie reached forward towards Lydia, crouching down and covering her with her own body. She felt someone doing the same to her, their chest pressed tightly against her back and their arms wrapping around both her and Lydia.

After what felt like minutes of terrified screams and sheer panic, it was over. Sadie locked eyes with Stiles when he unwrapped his arms from around her.

“You okay?” He asked as he helped her and Lydia up, looking around the devastated classroom. The tables had been pushed around and there were black feathers and dead birds laying down everywhere.

Sadie chuckled at his question, trying to ease the tension and the adrenaline still rushing through her veins. She had to laugh at something or she would start crying. 

“School is great.”

• • •  
“Yeah, I see it. It’s two bands, right?” said Derek, flashing his glowing red eyes towards Scott’s arm.

Scott hummed in agreement. 

Derek, who Sadie was finally meeting for the first time after hearing countless tales of him, came across to her as a much nicer guy than Stiles had described him to be. A bit dry and brooding, yes, but nothing she couldn’t get behind. 

“What does it mean?”

Sadie and Stiles had left school right after the accident with the birds, too shaken up to go on with the rest of their lectures. Stiles had told her about the terrified deer that had run into Lydia’s car the day before and why he believed they had a reason to be worried about it after what had happened at english class. She trusted his instincts and if he was sure something was going on, then she believed him. 

Scott had told them to meet him at Derek’s old house in the woods, without further explanation. Turns out, he had had a bit of an encounter at the hospital, where he had gone to after his mother had told him Isaac, another werewolf, had been badly injured by an alpha. 

“I don’t know,” Scott replied. “It’s just something I trace with my fingers,” he drew a small circle surrounded by a bigger one on the dust that had accumulated on top of a table. 

“Why is this so important to you?” Derek asked, referring to the tattoo on Scott’s arm that wasn’t visible to the human eye.

“Do you know what the word ‘tattoo’ means?”

“To mark something,” Stiles jumped in, playfully winking his eye at Derek, who only looked at him with an indifferent expression.

Sadie bit down on her lip, holding back a chuckle at their interaction. 

“Well, that’s in Tahitian,” Scott continued talking. “In Samoan, it means ‘open wound’. I knew I wanted to get a tattoo when I turned 18, I always wanted one. I just decided to get it now, to make it kind of a reward.”

“For what?”

“For not calling or texting Allison all summer. Even when I really wanted to, even when it was hard sometimes. I was trying to give her the space she wants. Going four months later, it still hurts. It still feels like,” 

“Like an open wound,” Sadie finished for him in a shaky voice. She knew a thing or two about open wounds.

He loves her so much, she thought. He understood she needed her space and time after her mother’s death, and he had refrained from contacting her all summer, even if it pained him. She admired him for that. She couldn’t fathom what having to stay away from someone you love felt like. She wouldn’t be able to.

The three men gazed at her, her eyes glinting and throat burning. She swallowed hard and tried to compose herself, blinking the tears away and twiddling her mother’s ring between her fingers. Stiles looked at her with a soft smile. 

She hadn’t told him - or anyone, really - about her parents, all he knew is that she had been at foster care before they met her. Still, he could tell by the little things she had let slip here and there in between conversations, and he understood. 

“The pain’s gonna be worse than anything you've ever felt,” Derek carried on, picking up a blowtorch and a lighter.

“Ah, that’s great.” Stiles pouted, nodding in nervousness at what was about to happen.

“I don’t know if I can look at it,” Sadie turned around, facing Stiles who looked as uneasy as her. 

She didn’t feel like watching Scott in excruciating pain as Derek burned his arm with a freaking blowtorch. Stiles didn’t like the situation either.

“Do it.” Scott said convinced.

Derek proceeded lighting up the blowtorch and Sadie almost passed out.

“Oh, wow.” both Stiles and Sadie cried out at the same time.

“That’s a lot for me, so, I’m gonna take that as my cue. I’m just gonna go wait outside.” said Stiles, hands in his pockets and already exiting the room under Derek’s deathly stare.

“No, you stay,” Sadie pulled him back towards her. “Moral support.”

“You can help hold him down.” 

Stiles walked behind Scott reluctantly and held onto his shoulders. “Oh my god,” he exclaimed as Derek got closer to Scott with the blowtorch.

Sadie crinkled her nose up as the fire made contact with his skin, his eyes glowing yellow and his fangs extending. She had to turn away and face the wall when his pain filled cries got louder. All she could hear were the earsplitting screams Scott was letting out as his skin boiled under the fire.

• • •

“Well, it looks pretty damn permanent now.” Surely enough, the two black lines had appeared on Scott’s bicep right after he had passed out from the pain. 

“It looks great,” Sadie said sincerely, giving Scott a genuine smile.

“Thanks, I kinda needed something permanent.” Scott agreed. “Everything that’s happened to us, everything just changes so fast. Everything’s so...ephemeral.”

Both Sadie and Stiles stared at him with impressed faces at his usage of the advanced word. The three began walking out of the house and back to the jeep.

“Studying for the PSATs?” asked Stiles.

“Yup.”

“Nice.”

With a gleeful and proud smile, Scott opened the door, already stepping outside before he stopped dead on his tracks.

“You painted the door,” he pointed out to Derek, staring at the red door with narrowed eyes. “Why’d you paint the door?”

Now, that was weird. Why would Derek paint the door of his abandoned house? The place definitely needed a much bigger makeover than a layer of paint on a door.

“Go home, Scott.” Derek said with a defying tone.

“And why only one side?” Scott wondered again ignoring him, his brows furrowed. He flicked out his claws and scraped out the paint with one of his fingers.

“Scott,” Derek called out, walking towards him as he started scratching at the door furiously to remove the paint.

And surely enough, whatever inkling Scott had had about the newly painted door was, in fact, correct. A symbol was drawn under the paint. A symbol, or some kind of warning.

“The birds at school and the deer last night...just like the night I got trampled by the deer when I got bit by the alpha,” Scott was starting to put two and two together. 

Derek didn’t look happy.

“How many are there?”

“A pack of them,” Derek sighed, finally giving in to Scott’s questions. “An alpha pack.”

Sadies eyes went wide. 

How was that even possible? And what did the symbol on the door mean? How worried should they be?

“All of them? How does that even work?” Stiles asked, as if reading her mind.

“I hear there's some kind of a leader. He's called Deucalion,” Even the name sounded scary. “We know they have Boyd and Erica. Peter, Isaac, and I have been looking for him for the last four months.”

Sadie was still catching up with everything that Scott and Stiles had told her, but she recognized the names of Boyd and Erica as Derek’s betas. 

They were just teenagers. They had been held by this alpha pack for four whole months? She was terrified now.

“Let's say you find them.” Scott stepped forward. “How do you deal with an Alpha pack?” 

“With all the help I can get.”

Sadie was ready to help. She couldn’t even imagine what the poor betas had been going through for months. They had to help them.

“Where is she?” Another voice suddenly jumped in. It was Isaac, another one of Derek’s betas who had been passed out on a table the whole time they had been there. He had just woken up from the anesthesia.“Where's the girl?” he inquired, a panicked look on his face.

Everyone else in the room looked at each other with the same confused expressions.

“What girl?”


	3. iii. who is in control?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a party, a tub full of ice & a full moon

“Remind me again, why are we crashing some girl’s birthday party?” Sadie asked, staring at the floor as she walked behind Scott and Stiles so she wouldn’t trip over the cobblestones in the high heeled boots Lydia had gotten her.

“We’re not crashing,” Stiles clarified. “I went to nursery school with this girl, okay? Heather will be fine with you guys being there, don’t worry.”

Sadie didn’t really feel like having her first high school party experience that day, but Stiles had insisted they went and she couldn’t tell him no once he had started pouting. Scott wasn’t really up for a party either, the look on his face giving it away, but he hadn’t opposed to it, not wanting to argue with Stiles.

“It’s not that. I couldn’t care less about some girl kicking me out of her party.” She would feel very lucky if she got kicked out, actually. 

She had been feeling extra uneasy the last couple of days with the full moon approaching. She was terrified, to say the least, of her first transformation and she wasn’t so sure she was going to be able to handle it. Not turning at any random moment had turned out to be fairly easy for her, as she wasn’t an angry or nervous person, but the full moon was completely different. Self-control was definitely one of the things she had always lacked and she knew this was going to be no exception.

On top of that, there was a new alpha pack in town that even the animals in the woods were afraid of. Derek needed their help, but she didn’t even know how to defend herself, so how was she going to defend anyone else?

“What? Is it the full moon?” Stiles stopped walking and turned to face her. “Sadie, we’ll cross that bridge when we have to, alright? You don’t need to worry about things that haven’t happened yet.”

She nodded and kept walking even though his statement didn’t make much sense to her. She was an expert at anticipatory anxiety and she was sure he was too. Why was he giving her advice that he didn’t even take for himself?

“Sadie, it’s gonna be fine. We’ll be with you the whole time, okay?” Scott said with his usual caring tone, placing a hand on her shoulder in a reassuring manner.

Sadie gave him a sweet smile and a slight nod of the head. Scott had been like the older brother she never had since she met him.

“Anyway, she promised to introduce us to all of her friends.” Stiles went on, trying to lift Scott’s spirits up, who walked reluctantly and slightly crestfallen beside him. “So tonight, no Allison, no Lydia,” 

Sadie raised her eyebrows. Lydia what now.

“Tonight we’re moving on.” 

What did he mean about Lydia?   
Scott’s phone rang, a picture of a smiling Allison appearing on his screen. Sadie guessed it was pretty hard to move on from the girl you were in love with if she was actually calling you on the phone while you were actively trying to forget about her.

“You’re right.” Scott agreed, declining her call and putting his phone back into his pocket.

“That’s right I’m right. And you,” Stiles called out to Sadie, walking behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders as he marched with her towards the house like he was on a mission, some pop tune blasting and getting louder as they got closer.

“Me.” she replied, nodding her head.

“No brooding or worrying about the full moon tonight. You have fun.” 

“I genuinely don’t know how to do that. Don’t know if I’ll be able to.” She giggled. There was no way she was going to have fun at a party with a bunch of drunk teenagers she didn’t know, but she would try.

“You are impossible, woman.” He said, shaking his head. 

She couldn’t help but let out a full on chortle at the expression on his face. Annoyed Stiles was a rare sight - he was usually the one annoying everyone else, she had learned - and she loved it. Pissing him off was so much fun.

He gave her an exasperated look and grabbed her arm, dragging her into the house before she had the chance to back off and run away, Scott following behind.

“Stiles! Hi,”A girl around their age called out as soon as they walked in, all dizzying curves and blonde waves.

Stiles gave her a huge smile and opened his arms to pull the blonde who Sadie guessed was Heather into a hug. “Hey! There’s the birthday girl-”

Before Sadie knew it, Heather had smacked her lips against Stiles’ without so much of a heads-up, not even letting him finish his sentence. 

The smile Sadie was sporting seconds before dropped and she almost let out a yelp in surprise, because what the fuck. Scott’s jaw was slack open and the expression on Sadie’s face was indescribable.

“So glad that you made it.” Heather said when she pulled away, gazing at Stiles with an almost hungry look.

“Me too.” He replied instantly. She could hear his heart beating excitedly in his chest. 

“Come downstairs with me and help me pick out a bottle of wine.” The blonde suggested, interlocking their hands.

“Yes.” He nodded, barely looking back at his two friends before he was dragged away like a puppy.

Scott and Sadie stood there in shock for a couple of seconds. Sadie had no experience with boys - or girls, for that matter - but she knew they weren’t going to pick out any wine.

“Was that, um, really straightforward or am I just... not on with the times?” she asked Scott with narrowed eyes.

She wasn’t judging - not in the littlest bit, actually. She wished she was able to be spontaneous like that and have everything go right for her. Instead, she was just plain impulsive and a slow learner, which had only ever driven her to failure. 

“That was,” Scott stopped, searching for the right word. “Very bold, yes.”

“Good for him,” she shook her head and smoothed out her leather jacket. “Let’s go have a drink.”

Scott looked at her with a surprised but amused expression on his face.“Who are you and what have you done with Sadie?”

“Since we’re already here, might as well.” She shrugged. 

Heather kissing Stiles had in some way killed the little spirits she had, even though she wasn’t really sure why. Must have been because Stiles had dragged them both to a party they didn’t want to go to and now had stood them up for a girl, right? 

As much as she wanted to leave, Stiles was their ride and she wasn’t going to walk all the way back to Scott’s. If she had to stay, she refused to stand in a corner and be miserable for the rest of the night. She could afford to not drown in self pity for at least an hour.

“Yeah, okay.” He said with a smile, draping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her towards him and the kitchen.

Before they could get to the kitchen though, Scott’s phone buzzed again, making them stop in their tracks as he retreated it from his pocket, revealing a message under Allison’s name. She was outside.

• • •

“I don’t see anything.” Derek stated, his arms crossed.

“Look again.” Scott suggested.

“How is a bruise gonna tell me where Boyd and Erica are?” he asked disinterested, looking between Allison and Lydia who were still holding out their arms.

“It’s the same on both sides. Exactly the same.”

To be fair, Sadie couldn’t see anything either. It just looked like someone had grabbed their arms with too much force and left an imprint of their hands on them. Although, considering she knew about the supernatural now, it was totally possible that it actually meant something more - what, she wasn’t sure of.

“Pareidolia. Seeing patterns that aren’t there.” Lydia nodded.

Sadie and Stiles, who were sitting on top of one of the tables in the empty classroom, looked at each other in confusion.

“What’s she talking about?” she whispered. He just shook his head with pursed lips and raised eyebrows.

“It’s a substep of apophenia.” Lydia clarified in a matter-of-fact tone. 

“They’re trying to help.” Scott looked at Derek again.

“These two?” Derek looked between the two girls with an incredulous expression. He was clearly annoyed at Scott’s remark.

“This one,” he pointed to the strawberry blonde. “Who used me to resurrect my psychotic uncle. Thank you,” he said sarcastically. “And this one,” he looked at Allison now. “Who shot about 30 arrows into me and my pack.”

He did have a point, but still, Lydia and Allison were just trying to help, and Sadie knew they wouldn’t be there wasting everyone’s time if they truly didn’t think their bruises could mean something.

“Okay, all right now, come on.” Stiles chimed in. “No one died, all right? Look, there may have been a little maiming, okay, a little mangling, but no death. That’s what I call an important distinction.”

Sadie knew Stiles was just trying to ease the tension, but she wasn’t sure if that argument was valid in her book. Not everything was excusable just because no one had died, but she wasn’t one for holding grudges either. Lydia and Allison were just trying to help and they didn’t deserve Derek’s sourness, no matter what had happened between them in the past. At the end of the day, as Derek had said, he needed all the help he could get.

“My mother died,” Allison said in a low tone, looking at Derek defiantly. 

“Your family’s little honor code killed your mother. Not me.” he clarified, staring at her with the same expression.

If Sadie had been shocked at finding out about werewolves, there were no words to describe her surprise when she was told about hunters, especially finding out Allison’s family used to be part of it. The thought of someone wanting to kill her for something she had no control over was more than chilling. 

“That girl was looking for Scott,” Allison ignored him. “I’m here to help him, not you.” she spoke, her voice laced with hatred.

“You wanna help? Find something real.” 

“Give her a chance, okay? They’re on our side now.” Scott pleaded again.

“Well, then maybe you should tell her what her mother was actually trying to do that night.” said Derek irritated, slamming the door on his way out of the classroom.

• • • 

Turns out, Heather, the girl whose birthday party they had gone to the day before, was missing. And not only that, but Stiles was the last one to see her before she disappeared. 

He had thought she had stood him up at the party while he was upstairs, but apparently - as his father, the sheriff, had confirmed - something had happened to her. Stiles thought the alpha pack might have had something to do with her disappearance, and he was desperate to find her. She had been one of his closest childhood friends, after all. 

His theory didn't make much sense to Sadie, however, not really sure as to why an alpha pack would want to turn some girl into a beta. The whole point of an alpha back was to be composed of only alphas.

Stiles was very worried about her and their only plan not working. Sadie could smell the anxiety oozing out of his body as they filled up the tub with ice at Deaton’s clinic, and it hung around like some dark mass surrounding him.

It was truly exhausting being able to pick on what other people were feeling by their chemosignals, as Derek had described them, especially when having some sort of emotional connection with the person. It basically meant being able to feel some small fraction of their every emotion, be it bad or good.

Deaton had been their best shot at helping Isaac remember where Boyd and Erica were being held - Derek and his uncle Peter had failed at their attempts to do so, and it seemed that the only one who somehow knew more about werewolves than the werewolves themselves, was Deaton. If they found out where the betas were, they could subsequently find out where the alpha pack - and hopefully also Heather - was hiding, and save them all.

Frankly, Deaton’s idea to do so was insane. Not just insane, but terribly dangerous too. They were going to slow down Isaac’s heartbeat until he got into a hypnotized state and a half transformed haze in which they could tap into his subconscious mind and fish for the seemingly lost memories. It all seemed way too complicated to Sadie for it being as simple as soaking Isaac in a tub full of ice.

“How slow does his heart rate need to be?” Scott asked Deaton.

“Very slow.” Deaton nodded.

“Okay, well, how slow is very slow?” Derek questioned.

“Nearly dead.” he shrugged, as if what he had just said wasn’t of big importance.

“This is insane,” Sadie spat, shaking her head. Thankfully, she didn’t think werewolves could die of hypothermia.

Isaac looked up at her with an expression that gave away he agreed with her, sticking his hand into the tub and instantly pulling it away from the bitingly cold water. “It’s safe, though, right?” he asked.

“Do you want me to answer honestly?” 

“Why does he look like he’s enjoying this?” Sadie muttered to Stiles, leaning into his side as he leaned back against the wall. She didn’t receive an answer, though, only the snapping sound of a rubber glove.

“Stiles,” He looked very pleased with himself as he stared at his glove-clad hand.

“What?” He asked when he noticed everyone in the room was staring at him with raised eyebrows. He linked eyes with Sadie, who only gave him a raised eyebrow and a funny expression.

He took it off and dropped it angrily, his fun over.

“Look, if it feels too risky, you don’t have to do this.” Derek carried on, turning to Isaac.

Isaac didn’t bother to answer. Taking off his shirt and stepping into the tub, one foot after the other, he gasped at the shock of the freezing cold water, his breath becoming erratic as he took sharp intakes of air. His whole body shivering and teeth chattering, he braced himself, and Scott and Derek grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him back and under the water. Seconds after, he emerged back, letting out a thunderous roar, half transformed, fangs out and flashing yellow eyes. 

“Get him back under.” Deaton commanded, arms crossed.

Sadie and Stiles rushed over to help Scott and Derek pull Isaac back under the water as he thrashed angrily, trying to break out of their hold.

“Hold him.” Deaton insisted.

“We’re trying!” 

Not even four people (three with supernatural strength) could keep him down. Sadie could hear his heartbeat, and she could have sworn it was about to burst out of his chest by how quickly it was beating. It was the complete opposite of what they needed for the plan to work.

They managed to bring Isaac’s head under the water once more, and seconds later, he relaxed, his angry thrashing stopping. They let go of him and he raised back to the surface, taking an inhale.

“Now, remember, only I talk to him.” Deaton whispered. “Too many voices will confuse him and draw him out. Isaac, can you hear me?” They all waited expectantly.

“Yes, I can hear you.” he answered. 

“This is Dr. Deaton. I’d like to ask you a few questions, is that all right?”

“Yes.” His eyes were closed, his lips blue.

“I want to ask you about the night you found Erica and Boyd.” Thunder roared outside, the lightning following it illuminating the somber room and creating long shadows. “I want you to remember it for me in as vivid detail as possible, like you’re actually there again.”

“I don’t wanna do that. I don’t wanna do that.” he repeated in discomfort with a hint of anguish in his voice.

He was starting to thrash around again. The lights in the clinic flickered from the raging storm outside, although it seemed like it was Isaac’s distress that was causing them to go off. 

“Isaac, it’s all right. Just relax. They’re just memories, you can’t be hurt by a memory.” he assured him.

Well, you sort of can. - Sadie thought.

But Deaton’s reassuring words were to no use. Isaac kept repeating he didn’t want to do it, and that was perhaps the reason why he wasn’t remembering before - because he simply didn’t want to, he was scared to do so.

“It’s all right, relax.” Deaton repeated. Isaac calmed down at his words, physically relaxing in Scott’s and Derek’s hold. “Now let’s go back to that night. To the place you found Erica and Boyd. Can you tell me what you see? Is there some kind of building? A house?”

“It’s not,” he stuttered. “It’s not a house. It’s stone. I think marble.” he shivered, teeth chattering.

“That’s perfect. Can you give me any other descriptors?”

“It’s dusty, so empty.”

“Like an abandoned building?” Thunder rumbled again. “Isaac?”

“Someone’s here.” he whispered, gripping Scott’s arm. Lights started flickering again. The scene looked straight out of a horror movie. Sadie shivered with him, her blood chilling at his distress and agony filled screams. It was almost painful to watch.

“No, no, no, they see me. They see me.” he writhed and screamed, water splashing out of the tub and on their clothes.

“It’s just memories, you can’t be hurt by your memories. Just relax.” Deaton insisted. “Now, tell us what you see. Tell us everything.”

Isaac went completely still at his words, physically relaxing in the water once more. His eyes opened, the blinding yellow being replaced by striking blue. “I hear him. He’s talking about the full moon, about being out of control when the moon raises.”

“Is he talking to Erica?”

“I think so, I can’t-” he kept stumbling over his words. “I can’t see her. I can’t see either of them.”

“Can you hear anything else?”

“They’re worried, worried what they’ll do during the moon. They’re worried that they’re gonna hurt each other.”

“If they’re locked in together during the full moon, they’re gonna tear each other apart.” Derek chimed in, glancing at them with a concerned expression. 

Great. They needed to find them now more than ever, the full moon being the next day, but Sadie couldn’t even help. She couldn’t control it, just like them. She was no help. 

“Isaac, we need to find them right now. Can you see them? Do you know what kind of room it is? Is there any kind of a marker? A number on a door? A sign?”

Suddenly, Isaac sat up, gasping for air frantically. “They’re here.” he whispered, his eyes fixed on the wall. “They’re here,” he kept repeating over and over. “They see me, they found me. They’re here!” he screamed.

“This isn’t working,” said Derek, taking over Deaton. “Isaac, where are you? Tell me where you are.”

“I can’t see them, it’s too dark.”

“His heart rate...he could go into shock,” Deaton reminded Derek when he kept pushing Isaac for an answer.

“Isaac, where are you? What did you see?” Derek didn’t seem to listen, he kept insisting over Deaton’s reprimands and Isaac’s terrified screaming.

“Derek, you’re gonna kill him!” Sadie shouted.

“It’s a vault! It’s a bank vault!” Isaac yelled over everyone’s frantic arguing. “I saw it!” he sat up, breaking out of the hypnosis completely. “I saw the name.” 

Scott and Derek helped him out of the tub. Sadie walked over to them with a towel in hand, quickly wrapping it around the shaking frame of the boy. Isaac took the towel, thanking her quietly with a nod and a faint smile which she returned. “It’s, uh, Beacon Hills First National Bank. It’s an abandoned bank, and they’re keeping them locked inside the vault.”

No one said anything, too shocked about what had just happened, sitting in silence instead. Isaac suddenly noticed everyone in the room was staring at him with the same gloom expression plastered on their faces."What?"

“You don’t remember what you said right before you came out of it, do you?” Stiles seemed to be the only one brave enough to break down the news and say out loud what they had all heard but didn’t want to believe. 

“No,” Isaac shook his head confused.

“You said when they captured you that they dragged you into a room, and that there was a body in it.”

“What body?” He asked, looking over to Sadie who was sitting to his right. 

Sadie looked down. She let out a deep sigh, bracing herself, and looking back up to meet his anticipating stare. “You said it was Erica.”

• • • 

Stiles had spent the whole night researching the bank and how to get in without the alphas noticing, only to have found pretty much nothing but terrible back pain and a headache from the lack of sleep. Thankfully, he had discovered his dad had worked on the case of a robbery that had happened there years prior, and he had agreed to let him look through his files, not bothering to ask what he needed the information for, assuming it was just another Stiles-y thing.

His plan was to get in just like the robbers had done, and it was a decent and elaborate plan if they looked past the fact that they were a bunch of teenagers and not professional bank thieves with special robbing gear. Not only that, but Sadie was sure Derek wasn’t very keen on the plan at all by the sour expression on his face.

“One of the robbers was lowered into this shaft,” Stiles drew a red circle over a small section of the bank’s blueprints. “Now, that place is so small it took him about 12 hours to drill into the wall, which is stone, by the way.” he went on explaining his plan. “Then, throughout the rest of the night, they siphoned the cash up to the guys back on the roof through that one little shaft in the wall. Boom.” He tapped the blueprints with the red marker.

“Uh, yeah, maybe we find another way?” Sadie suggested with a pained smile.

“What- another way? There’s no other way, Sadie.” 

“Okay,” she threw her arms up defensively, eyes wide. She had learned very quickly that there was no point in arguing with Stiles when he was so fixed on something. 

“Can we fit in there?” Scott asked.

“Yes, we can, but very, very barely. And they also patched the wall, obviously, so we’re gonna need a drill of some kind. I’m thinking maybe a diamond bit-”

“Forget the drill,” Derek cut in. He was very much done with Stiles’ rambling. “If I go in first, how much space do I have?”

“What do you think you’re gonna do, Derek? You gonna punch through the wall?”

“Yes, Stiles, I’m gonna punch through the wall.” Derek crossed his arms, smirking at Stiles.

“Oh, here we go.” Sadie murmured. The married couple.

“Okay, big guy, let’s see it. Let’s see that fist.” Stiles started mocking him. “Big old fist. Make it, come on. Get it out there, don’t be scared,” Derek raised his fist, his arms still crossed and the same cocky expression from before plastered on his face. “Big bad wolf. Yeah, look at that. Okay, see this?” He said holding Derek’s wrist and placing his own hand in front of his fist. “That’s maybe three inches of room to gather enough force to punch through solid-”

Derek moved his fist forward, crashing it against Stiles’ hand. He hissed in pain, his mouth hanging open as he clutched his hand and crouched down, an expression full of agony on his face. 

“Oh my god,” Derek had punched him really hard. Werewolf strength was no joke, especially an alpha’s, and especially on a human.

Stiles stumbled to the back of the room, whimpering in pain. “He could do it,” he affirmed. 

“Stiles, are you okay?” Sadie walked over to him, who was still in the same potion, bent over with his hand between his knees, as Derek and his uncle Peter discussed a new plan.

“Hey, Stiles-“ Sadie took hold of his arm and suddenly she could feel all the pain he was feeling, black lines appearing on her own hand where she was touching his skin as if his pain was being passed and becoming hers. She clenched her teeth, feeling the numbness and the burn on her veins, and as soon as it came, it was over. 

Scott had told her about this ability, but she hadn’t even been thinking about it when she touched Stiles. It was like an instinct had come over her body, an instinct of wanting to protect and help him.

“That was cool.” She stared down at her hand in thought, the black lines long gone. 

“Thank you,” he said sincerely, still slightly out of breath, rubbing his wrist where the pungent pain had been seconds ago. “God, that really hurt. Are you okay?”

“You’re asking me if I’m okay?” Sadie raised her brows. “Derek almost punched a hole in your hand and you’re asking me if I’m okay?” she laughed.

“Yeah, well, I guess that hurt for you too.”

“It was okay. I didn’t imagine it to be like that.” How cool was it to be able to take someone’s pain away? To relieve them from that burden? If only it could be that easy with the mental one too, she thought. 

“Uh, let’s get back.” she suggested when a few seconds passed of him just standing there staring at her.

He just nodded and followed behind her. He didn’t know what else to say. Frankly, Sadie made him nervous sometimes, and he didn’t even know why. 

Derek, Peter and Scott were still discussing what their next move was going to be and how they should go about it. “I don’t know about Erica, but if Boyd’s still alive we have to do something.” Scott said. “We have to try.”

Sadie looked down. It was just Scott and Derek against all of those alphas. Peter wasn’t even bothering to lend them a hand, so she really wanted to help, but she couldn’t. There was no way she could with the full moon so close.

“Okay,” Derek nodded to Scott’s words.. “Then, we have to go. Now. Before the moon comes out.”

Scott hesitated. The full moon was coming out in less than an hour. He promised Sadie he would be there for her every step of the way, he couldn’t leave her now. “But, Sadie....” he turned to her.

“I need your help, Scott.” said Derek. “She’ll be fine, Stiles can handle her, he’s done it before.”

This wasn’t what they had planned for her first transformation and truthfully she wasn’t too keen on having Stiles watch over her with the danger that that put him in, but it would have to do. There was no way she was holding Scott back and potentially letting the betas kill each other in that vault. 

“Go, Scott,” Sadie agreed, giving him a reassuring nod. “You have to help them.” 

Getting everyone out and alive was more important to her.

“We’ll be okay.” Stiles chimed in, nodding to Scott and turning to Sadie, his hand on her shoulder before he guided her out of the loft and to his jeep. 

• • •

“You okay?” Stiles asked, yanking on the chains around her wrists once again to make sure they weren’t budging. “Feel anything yet?”

Sadie was sitting in Scott's basement, chained to the wall and waiting impatiently for the moon to play its tricks on her. She ignored where Stiles had gotten the chains and handcuffs from - frankly, she didn’t want to know.

“No, I’m fine. Trying to stay calm. You checking the time every thirty seconds is not really helping, though.”

“Sorry,” he apologized, glancing away from his phone before locking it and putting it back into his pocket. “It should happen any minute now.” He was just as impatient as her, if not more, and he reeked of anxiety, although that seemed to be an everlasting thing for him.

“It’ll be fine. I think you’re more worried than I am.” she chuckled, trying to ease the tension.

They sat in silence for a few seconds before she saw it. The undeniable shape of the full moon peeking through the small window of the basement, glowing stark against the inky jet black sky. All of a sudden, her breath started getting more agitated, her heart beat quicker. She felt a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead. 

This was it. 

“Stiles,” she called out worriedly. She was very calm, but still, it was like something was coming over her. 

Stiles moved closer to her when he realized what was happening. “Take deep breaths, Sadie, you can do it.” he encouraged her. 

She took a deep breath through her nose, exhaling shakily seconds after through her mouth. The rumbling in her chest kept getting stronger and stronger. She clenched her jaw, shoulders tensing, and let out a hiss of pain through gritted teeth. 

“It helps to have an anchor, something that helps you hold onto your humanity. Think of something happy, someone you love, a good memory - anything. Focus on it and hold onto it.” Stiles explained.

A happy memory. Someone she loved. She tried to fish through her fuzzy brain.

A happy memory. Someone she loved. Her father. Her mother. Sunny days and pancake sundays. Green grass.

Her eyes glowed yellow, the lulling green long gone, fangs extending and claws flicking out involuntarily. 

“Stiles, you should leave,” she begged him in a panicked voice. She was scared she was going to lose it at any moment. “It’s not working.”

She was trying so hard to keep calm and control the transformation, but she didn’t think she could hold it for much longer. It was extremely painful. The more she tried to push it back, the more it hurt. 

Her father. Her mother. Sunny days and pancake sundays. Green grass. - she thought again.

It was no use, the memory wasn’t strong enough - her mind was too foggy to focus on a memory, to focus on something that wasn’t tangible. It wasn’t working, if anything, it was making her angrier. She had never met her mother and the memory of her father was tainted by his death, her mind involuntarily taking her back to the night she lost him.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Stiles. Please, just leave.” She let out a painful grunt, yanking on the chains involuntarily.

“I’m not leaving you, Sadie. You can do it, I know you can. Focus.”

Her mind was clouded and dizzy. She couldn’t see straight. Her vision was tinted with a red hue and she wasn’t so sure of what was going on anymore, an almost animalistic instinct coming over her. Her body was acting against her mind’s wishes, almost like it had a life of its own, completely autonomous from her brain. 

She just wanted to tear something to shreds. The feeling was almost of frustration, like wanting to scream out of impotence, only this time it was so intense she would have been fine with ripping Stiles’ throat out with her teeth. It didn’t help that he was kneeling down so close to her.

Her father. Her mother. Sunny days and pancake sundays. Green grass. 

Fuck this. 

“Sadie, look at me,” she heard Stiles’ voice breaking through the fog. “Focus on me, okay? On the sound of my voice. Just keep focusing, Sadie.” He tried to pull her back down to earth.

“I can’t,” she uttered through gritted teeth, shutting her eyes tightly.

“Yes, you can. Come on, Sade, look at me.”

Their eyes locked together, striking yellow against deep amber. 

Stiles. 

Stiles.

And suddenly, it clicked. Before she knew it, her breathing was slowing down, slowly but surely, until the golden yellow turned back into calming green, the claws retreating back.

“That’s it. You got it, Sadie. You got it.” He encouraged her in a soft voice. She felt much calmer at the mere sound of his voice.

Her breathing was ragged, her chest shaking uncontrollably and erratically, and she felt like crying from the scary experience, but she had done it. She had managed to control it. On the first try. Thanks to him. 

“You did it, Sadie, you did it.” Stiles smiled. Fully trusting she wasn’t going to lash out and slash his throat, he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug.

She buried her head on his chest, giving into his embrace and the overwhelming feelings coming over her, fisting her hands on his t-shirt and crying quietly out of relief.


End file.
